Why do I love Brussels?

Amazing People in Brussels

People

• Amazing friends
• Love of my life

Nutrition

• Top beers (Duvel, Chimay)
• Quality mussels multiple months
• Frites (Place Jourdain)

Places

• Close and easy access to Paris, Amsterdam, London etc etc
• Louisa Avenue
• Place Chatelain
• Brussels Golf Club
• Pain Quotidien

Did I forget something?

Radisson Blu Arlandia Room 423

22 November 2010. Check in around 9 pm

1. Upgraded to Suite – not sure why.  Bigger room and movies included.
2. Unmade bed
3. Two single beds. First one clearly not made with marks on pillow and cover showing someone has recently slept there.
4. Bathrobe open
5. Disgusting stain on bathroom floor
6. Should I or should I not inform?
7. I inform the reception and get offered a new room. Go down to receive the new key. Good approach. “Many apologies for this inconvenience, hope this one is correct”
8. New room is clean AND has nice pieces of chocolate on the pillows.

Go to the gym – old equipment. Shower only with wall schampoo/showercream.

I realize there is no warm food after 23. After gym and shower time is already 23.10. I get the possibility to order a cold sandwich. 130 SEK. + 60 SEK roomservice fee.

All in all:

• Service good
• Breakfast GREAT
• Quality old rooms
• Comfortable bed
• Bathroom equipment: orange smelling accessories, “Anne Semonin” Paris. + Hand cream.

PS. This and coming hotel reviews is merely note to self. Through previous experiences of travelling my assumption when starting taking these notes is that quality control is the most difficult part in managing a hotel. Is it coincidence when I have an excellent experience – or is it actual control?

You love jazz?

Then this is the place to chill this Wednesday eve on the 8th of September: Theatre Marni

Solved the Twitterfeed problemo

Perhaps..let’s go again. Test one two three! Discovered an easy shortcut from my wordpress dashboard. Or did I?

Test to check if my Twitter Feed works

Super excited now because my previous post did not work. Perhaps this one will?

Life is such a mystery by the way. One day you’re lying in bed three days in a row feeling sorry for yourself while trying to perform some needed work on your laptop. The next day your back at work, enjoying the company of collegues, enjoying work, having dinner and meeting great new people and feeling fantastic and appreciating life.

Just to wake up for real by your colleague getting into a car crash the minute after. He is so lucky it was only the car that took damage. And you start to think WHY? Why did this happen? And as I would normally say: Everything happens for a reason. That reason can be more subtle than obvious usually. Like a wise man once said: Start observing, then you learn the truth about life and yourself.

Over and out

Twitter feed – check

I finally got my act together and found out how to automate a Twitterfeed of my blogposts to my twitter account. Awesome! I searched in google and found a descriptive post by the Search Engine Journal. Also can recommend following twfeed on Twitter for customer service.

Now all I have to do is keep writing interesting and no-nonsens blog posts and I might even become one of those who’s blogs are actually read!

So, what is my blog about? Have found one similarity in most blogs – The “About me” section is always available and very descriptive. I need to think about that one though. Can’t it be enough that you make an assumption on what I do and who I am and then simply like me and my thoughts?

Hmm need to think about this one!

Ciao

L’Axess and American Dreams in Brussels

My latest restaurant and bar discovery happened yesterday at L’Axess.

A friend of mine took me to see the the JFK exhibition “American Dreams” in Tour & Taxi. After filling up my cup of cultural economics we sat down in the restaurant L’Axess to enjoy a menu with American theme – due to the exhibition.

Scampi to start and big piece of juicy steak for main course. I’m not really sure how the scampi was American but both courses very nicely prepared and although the salad was hastily prepared with slightly too much oil – assuming due to a packed to the macked dining room, the food really showed proof of great talent in the kitchen. And not to mention the staff out on the floor. The hostess welcoming us to the table was wearing Kylie Minouge like outfits as if she has done that her whole life. Thought: Could it have been part of the American Dream theme? Our waiter served us above expectations and with a nice package to go with that. Thought: I really liked him.

The bartenders also came in nice packages with a professional appearance and just barely made the cut in my “Make me a nice cocktail” pursuit. I have stopped doing that lately since I am no longer a pretentious bartender trying to put other bartenders to the test and then disect the drink every time like it was a frog. What does that actually give me? Only to come to the conclusions that A: this is a great drink – great bartender. B: this is a horrific drink – mediocre or lousy bartender. Well to tell you the truth, if the result is A:this is a great drink, I do feel like I have accomplished something. Which is finding a secure place for sipping cocktails knowing I will be drinking quality and not quantity.

So how did it go with the cocktail finally? Well, why I in the first place had (!) to ask the bartender to prepare a cocktail of his choice, was simply because they did not have the cocktail they did PR for with on the bar: a Cointreaupolitan. They were out of cranberry juice. So when the bartender heard my reply he asked me: Which spirits do you like? And I replied vodka. Why vodka? Well let’s save that for another story. He made me something like a Cointreaupolitan but added the vodka as well as strawberry grenadine and pinapple juice. The cocktail would have been great as an after dinner drink. Slightly too sweet to make the pre dinner cut. But surely the guy deserves a hand for being bit creative. How could he have known I hadn’t already had dinner?

Now, finishing off with adding to the dessert section on the menu: Chocolate cupcake with authentic vanilla ice cream and whipped cream. By God if I was a Snowman I would melt within a second. That dessert really topped it off leaving me content and fired up at the same time – making me want to come back for more.

Perhaps I should try out L’Axess on a Thursday?

Taking the next step

I have come to realize that Brussels is just the same as Malmö. Same but different. (of course!)

Since my big move over to the capital of Europe in June of 2009, I have been seemingly effortlessly trying to get the hang of Brussels nightlife. I’m saying nightlife here because it is for me top priority if I am to be settled in a new city – and in this case – a new country. Effortless because I may not have been as effective as I could have been by doing more Internet research before the weekend or becoming member of more Facebook groups, or connecting more socially on the web. Or even in real life for that matter. It’s just harder to get to know people in a new place when the only thing you do is work and hang out with work colleagues. Unless you have work colleagues who already have a lot of “alien” friends and you get to tag along.

But now it seems I am either always floating about as usual, or it is just destiny helping me into the right tracks. Because I am slowly starting to understand that:

1. Brussels is a city where you have to know the “right” crowd in order to benefit from the multiple places of dance and spirits – Yes, they do exist.

2. Brussels is a city with door men who like any other door men in any other city likes well dressed, non intoxicated people. – Yes, they have the right to decide who gets into the club. It’s their business and not a government, non profit, all for all organization. A club rarely is, unless you want to hang out with lefty 18 year old indies.

Honestly, Social Media has made it far too easy to start a new life in a new city. It is way easier to get to know someone by Twitter, Facebook or mail and get those contacts you need for getting into a club – at all hours. Than lurking around the door men or owners trying to get their attention one way or the other.

I have never encountered the problem in Malmö since I had the fortune of being a member of the Restaurant people elite (oooo wooow -I know!). Since I worked in the most prominent places I was also welcomed in those or other clubs. Until one day, when I had to stand in line for a new place that had opened: “Debaser“. All of a sudden there was a club who accepted everyone as long as they queued (?!) All of a sudden I had to queue! What did I do? Well I tried with one of the worst lines you can ever imagine:

Please, pretty please! I am 30!

OMG, you can imagine the look of the door man. He did not know whether to pity me or just sign me of as a mental patient. He chose non and discarded me like all the rest who would not queue.

PS. That’s actually not the whole story. You see I actually did queue for a while before hitting the door. Well, kind of anyways.. I jumped over the fence to join my buddies who were half way through the queue. One of the door men saw it immediately and came up to me and kindly said:

You can leave now or when you reach the door. It’s your choice.

And you know the ending…

Undercover? Never

On the cover sounds more like it! One day after arrival in Malmö:

After unpacking and having some afternoon tea with her mother, she hurries to the shops with the ambitious goal of finding a new top for that very first Saturday out in the crowd in Malmö in a very long time. Her steps lead her quickly to her favourite store: L’aend just opposite Zara. The top! She almost immediately  found it. It’s Diesel and just perfectly designed with exquisite accessories.

- “This will be just right for my evening starting at Malmö Dans City!” she said with smile of content.

The Christmas party at her old dance school was long awaited. She knew she would see her old dancing friends dance like they’ve never danced before and she knew their energy and love for the dance would give her exactly what she needed: A new spark to get her lazy butt out on the dance scene in Brussels

City Malmö Magazine December 14 2009: “Which Dance Style will be hot 2010?” see page 22

Back in Malmö

Malmö loures me back for a few days. The feeling of being back in Malmö, the third biggest city in Sweden with it’s 300.000 something habitants – and according to me the capital of Sweden – is overwhelming the first few minutes.

As she exits the train at the central station she feels the cold air and notice the familiar language. She understands everyone and everyone understands her. Bus number seven awaits her and she enters it although she only need to hitch a two stop ride. It’s cold. And she wants to see her mom. The architecture that welcomes her to Malmö is not often noticeable since she tend to not look up from time to time. This time though – she can’t help thinking “What a beautiful city this is!”